that
brief interview had occurred in darkness. So Stephen was aware of the
existence of the sovereign! The sovereign was not occult. Possibly he
had put it there. And what did he know he was 'right' about?

She lighted the gas, and gazed at herself in the glass, realizing that
she no longer had a headache, and endeavouring to arrange her ideas.

'What's this?' said another voice at the door. She glanced round
hastily, guiltily. It was Charlie.

'Steve telephoned me you were too ill to go to the dance,' explained
Charlie, 'so I thought I'd come and make inquiries. I quite expected to
find you in bed with a nurse and a doctor or two at least. What is it?'
He smiled.

'Nothing,' she replied. 'Only a headache. It's gone now.'

She stood against the mantelpiece, so that he should not see the white
parcel.

'That's good,' said Charlie.

There was a pause.

'Strange, Li Hung Chang dying last night, just after we had been
talking about killing mandarins,' she said. She could not keep off the
subject. It attracted her like a snake, and she approached it in spite
of the fact that she fervently wished not to approach it.

'Yes,' said Charlie. 'But Li wasn't a mandarin, you know. And he didn't
die after we had been talking about mandarins. He died before.'

'Oh! I thought it said in the paper he died at two o'clock this
morning.'

'Two a.m. in Pekin,' Charlie answered. 'You must remember that Pekin
time is many hours earlier than our time. It lies so far eastward.'

'Oh!' she said again.

Stephen hurried in, with a worried air.

'Ah! It's you, Charlie!'

'She isn't absolutely dying, I find,' said Charlie, turning to Vera:
'You are going to the dance after all--aren't you?'

'I say, Vera,' Stephen interrupted, 'either you or I must have a scene
with Martha. I've always suspected that confounded housemaid. So I put
a marked sovereign in a drawer this morning, and it was gone at
lunch-time. She'd better hook it instantly. Of course I shan't
prosecute.'

'Martha!' cried Vera. 'Stephen, what on earth are you thinking of? I
wish you would leave the servants to me. If you think you can manage
this house in your spare time from the works, you are welcome to try.
But don't blame me for the consequences.' Glances of triumph flashed in
her eyes.

'But I tell you--'

'Nonsense,' said Vera. 'I took the sovereign. I saw it there and I took
it, and just to punish you, I've spent it. It's not at all nice to lay
traps fo